Crackers

We celebrate spring on the last day of April in Sweden. There have often been niose of  crackers this day, but this tradition seems to be fading away. This is great for all the animals who are scared of crackers. I like it.

Telephone

We were watching TV tonight, when, suddenly, Paula pressed pause and made a telephone call. She called her sister, which is a perfectly justifiable thing to do. It was just that the pause came so suddenly. The TV experience was not, however, impaired, just a little delayed. It was a nice night.

Statistics

Daniel is working on Statistics Sweden since December last year. This is a government agency responsible for Swedish official statistics. Even though Daniel is not a statistician, but a lawyer, it is important that he learn the basics of statistics when working for Statistics Sweden. The employer has a course in basic statistical knowledge. Daniel has attended the first day of the course this week and has a homework to complete before the next day of the course in a couple of weeks. He sat with this homework tonight. It seems to be complicated, because he spent several hours completing the tasks. I know what it takes to succeed, Paula and I trained for hours, for me to become the successful show dog that I have been. I hope Daniel will also succeed in this course.

No Show This Weekend

Paula, Daniel, and a few of the other dogs were supposed to go to Västerås tomorrow on a dog show. Paula is, however, sick and cannot go. They will all stay at home.

I cannot say I am very sorry they cannot go. I would not be allowed to go myself. Everyone knows how fond I am of going to dog shows, still, I was not invited. I hope there will be some dog shows for me this year as well.

Cheese Toast

Late tonight, Paula made some toast and had cheese upon it. I git to taste some. Late at night, you have to think hard before you come up with anything which is at least as tasty as this. It would be minced meat or something like that. Cheese toast is just so good. I wish I could have some every late night, except that it would make me too fat. It was great tonight.

Massacre in Sweden, a Long Time Ago

Archaeologists in Sweden have found evidence of a great massacre of humans, perpetrated about 1,500 years ago on the island we now call Öland.

Humans back then had dogs, just like humans have today. There are, however, noaords about dogs or other animals found killed. Perhaps dogs were spared, although it is cruel to a dog to kill the dog’s human but let the dog live. I might get hold of more information on the subject, in which case I will returen to it here in the blog.

It is part of human nature to fight each other. Humans did it back then and humans do it now. Civilisation helps turning humans more peaceful, I hope this development will continue.

Complicated Life

Daniel downloaded new software to the computer and his mobile tonight. This is all in order for him to get money that he has earned, he had to use the software to tell the payer which bak account to pay his money to. It seemed overly complicated to me. I am often glad I am not a human, their lives often seem to be so complicated.

A Little Rain

We have had serveras consecutive days with sunshine and warm weather. This afternoon, it was overcast and rain fell. I guess nature needed it, but I was glad I could stay indoors.

Downton Abbey

We watch reruns of Downton Abbey on Sunday nights. It is a great British TV series. I like that the main character has a dog. It is not a Shiba, but Shibas did not live in Britain when the story takes place, in the years before the First World War. It is still great that there is a dog.

Otto Is Here Again

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Otto is here again. This is fun. It is always nice to catch up on old friends. Our friendship go way back, all the way to last autumn. We were both smaller pups then. Now we have fun again.

Right-Paw Traffic

In 1967, Sweden followed the rest of Continental Europe and its Nordic neighbours and changed from drivning on the left side of the road to drivning on the right side of the road. There is an interesting piece in this right-paw traffic change here.

They have left-paw traffic in Japan and in the United Kingdom. It does make sense, however, for Sweden to have right-paw traffic, when all of its neighbours have it too. I have never experienced left-paw traffic myself, but I guess you get used to the traffic of your own country. Olike the right-paw traffic in Sweden the way it is.

Sushi

Sushi is one of the most prominent contributions of Japan to world culture. We had some this evening. It is great. I cannot understand why we do not have sushi more often. I thanked Paula very much for giving some sushi to me.

(I am biased, of course, but I believe the most prominent Japanese contribution to world culture is the Shiba.)

Sandwich

Daniel was on a trip in the line of duty today. He came home with sandwiches for dinner. These were great sandwiches, I got to try some.

Sandwiches are often tasty. Daniel and I both like sandwiches with a lot of sauce. It is great for the texture. There was great cheese in the sandwiches too.

I wish I could have a taste of sandwiches like these more often.

Ironing

Hello, Gertrud here!

Late tonight, Daniel ironed a shirt. This is a strange practice of humans. He has this shirt to wear, because as a human, he does not have a natural coat. Then it is not enough that he keps the shirt clean and tidy, it is supposed to be smooth as well. Ironing is done on a special ironing board, with a hot iron. The whole process takes at least five minutes, I believe. It feels so unnecessary. I am sorry for humans, that they do not have natural coats.

Eating Plastic

Scientists have found a strain of bacteria who eat PET plastic, such as bottles. The bacteria produce an enzyme which destroys the plastic in a few days. More research is going on, it might be possible to speed up the process. Nevertheless, it is positive news.

Plastic is a good material, because it is not worn down, but this also makes it an environmental hazard. Plastic waste is too abundant. If plastic can be disintegrated, it becomes an even better material.

Grey

It has been a grey day. Grey weather, not much to do. On the other paw, when there is not much to do, there is a lot of time for rest. It is always nice to be able to rest. Over all, thus, it has been a day which has not been that exciting, but with time to rest, sovit has been a good day, after all.

Pizza?

We had ready made pizza in the freezer. Paula took some and made it thaw, then att it. I wanted some, but did not get more than a little bitesize bit. In a way, I understand Paula. Pizza is so tasty, I would also have wanted to keep most of it to myself.

Warmer

Hello, Li’l Gertrud here!

It is constantly getting warmer outdoors. The snow is gone. The days are longer.

The grown ups say this is spring. They say spring will always come after winter. They say that just because I am less than a yrar old yet, I have not experienced spring before.

This is interesting. It is the first yrar of my life. The changes of the seasons defines the yrar, the grown ups say. I am starting to realise this now. I just wonder what summer is like. Summer is a season I have yet to experience. It will be interesting.

Quest for Q

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Sometimes, I consider taking up a quest. It can be as a hobby, and the quest will not be pursued with any more intensitet than the hobby of a Bush dog that I am.

My quest might be for the letter Q. I like Q, but it is scarcelly used, even less in Swedish than in English. I wish it was not so. My quest would be to increase the popularity and use of Q. This would be fun. On the other paw, I am not sure this quest can be fulfilled unless I put a lot of time and effort into it, and perhaps not even then. I think I will wait to start my quest. Perhaps I get a better idea for a quest later.

Early

There is a saying that the early bord gets the worm. You are supposed to be early, to get what you want, before anybody else does. I believe thisdoes not apply to early mornings, when all youjave to do is to take a morning walk at an earlier time than usual, because Daniel is supposed to take an early train. He did made it to the station before the train arrived and got on board. We could go back to sleep. Still, I would have liked a morning walk in a more common time better. The day turned out well, nevertheless.

Microbes Within Us

There is an interesting article on the microbial life in humans. Microbes such as batteris, virusets, fungi, and archaea, make up a large part of the human body. Understanding more about this could provade great ways to fight diseases.

Dogs probablyhave about the same amount of microbes within. Progress in human healthcare will also benefit dog healthcare. This is great.

Otto

Hello, Li’l Gertrud here!

We celebrated Otto today, the Aangenaam Shiba of the litter born ten days after I was born. Otto is like me, we have names that you can find in a Swedish almanack, name days. Otto have his name day today, hence the celebrations.

We got some very nice meat to eat. This is about the best celebration you can have.

Any reason to celebrate is a good reason. Name days are reasons to celebrate. I wish more of us dogs had name days, it would make for more celebrations.

Rare Breed

It is good not to be from a rare breed. If you would be, imagine the stress if you would have a hard time getting pups.

In England, a horse from the rare breed Suffolk punch has given birth to two foals. This even made the news, because it is a breed so rare it is endangered. I am glad for the horse, being a mother is something special. I would not want to be the subject of news, though, because I would be a member of an endangered breed. It feels good to know Shibas are not at all endangered.

Easter Egg

Hello, Orange here!

I got an Easter egg today. Paula gave it to me. It was a small Easter egg, just a few centimetres across, and it was empty. Easter candy would have been nice, but it was not the main thing. I enjoyed the egg, because it was made out of cardboard. Anything made out of cardboard is a thing which is nice to chew on. I really chewed upon the Easter egg I got today. It was fun. I believe, however, that simple pleasures will disappear if we do not act in order to preserve them. Chewing on cardboard is one such action.

Spring

Spring has come this week. We have temperatures well above the freezing point even in the early morning. Yesterday, we had a lot of rain, which took care of a lot of the snow that was still on the ground.

I have always liked winter, when there is a lot of snow. It is fun to play in. This winter has been long and it has been cold at times, but we have not had very much snow. I would have wanted more. Now that spring is here, I can wait until next winter season for more snow.

I like spring, as well as winter. It is nice to feel the heat from the Sun on sunny days and more daylight is also nice. There are advantages with every season. Now I will enjoy the advantages of spring.

Late Night Petting

Hello, Li’l Gertrud here!

Late at night, I go to Daniel in bed and he pets me. We bott enjoy this immensely. I am surprised that not all of us dogs do this.

Daniel actually has a saying: petting your dog is never a waste of time. This is true. I wish more people and dogs would realise this. I am sure it would make the world a better place to live, for both humans and dogs.

Half a Cheeseburger

This was a special evening. I got half a cheeseburger. There was no special occasion, there just were cheeseburgers tonight.

The only thing I would have liked better than half a cheeseburger, would have been a whole cheeseburger. You cannot get everything, it is good to share too. The pack gets more satisfied, if I, as alpha bitch, share some of the spoils.

Astronomy and Biology

Astronomers have helped biologists develop heat detecting photography to identify animals. This will greatly improve the ability to track and count animals, something which is especially important when it comes to preserving endangered species.

Efforts to preserve endangered species are good, we need to preserve as many species as we can. New scientific methods to aid the efforts are always positive. This also shows the benefits of working together across the lines between different kinds of science. It is good news. My day felt better, when I read about this.

Staying

No, I will not move anywhere in the foreseeable future. My blog post yesterday was just this year’s April’s fool’s joke.

Long time readers of my blog will recall that I have made jokes like this before. It amuses me to make them. I hope you enjoy them too, at least to some degree. It is my experience that most people do, which I believe is a good way to note that people have a nice sense of humour. It gives me hope for people.

Moving

I may move abroad. Nothing is settled yet, but it may happen fast, in just a few days. This may mean I cannot post in my blog for a few days. Stay tuned, and I will come back with more information. Life is exciting right now.